The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-07-21
PROHIBITION KANSAS.

Municipal Bankruptcy.
CHICAGO, July 13.-The following
was received to-day:
KANSAS PROSPERITY VS.. THE SALOON
INTEREST.
STATE OF KANSAS, EXECUTIVE
DEPARTMENT,
TOPEKA, July u, 1887.
To William Henry Smith, General Manager,
NY DEAR SIR:-On the I'd of July
inst, q special dispatch was sent
from st. Joseph, No., to a Chicago
closing Of the saloons in Atchi-
son, KS, has cut OF the most
profitable sources of revenue amount
ing to thousands of dollars a year, and
as a result the city has not revenue
enough to keep going; that the police
force, with the exception of the Mar
shall and one policeman had been sus-
pended; that the services of the fire.
men were to be dispensed with, and
that the gas and electric lamps were to
be shut OF. This dispatch was
and thus published all over the coun-
try. AS a result 1 have received
many letters from different sections
making inquiries as to the truth of the
statements embodied, and have seen its
alleged facts commented upon in dozens
of newspapers as evidence that the
abolition of the saloon has reduced a
prosperous city in Kansas to the verge
Of bankruptcy. Similar letters have
been received by the Mayor of Atchi-
son, and by many other cities in
Kansas. The dispatch referred to was
prompted by two motives. 1t was first
sent from town in Missouri for the
purpose of injuring a rival city in Kan
sas, and second it was inspired by the
whisky interest, and to create the i'm
preston that an inland city could not
be maintained without the revenue de-
rived from saloon licenses. The City of
Atchison has been for many years one
of the most important railroad and
commercial centres of Kansas: 1t has
a population of about $4,000 peo-
could create the impression that
Atchison had been materially injured
because the saloons had been driven
out Of 1t serious blow would be dealt
the temperance cause. The Associated
Press in giving this false special such
wide publicity was made the agent of
a malicious slanderer, whose purpose
was as unworthy as his statements
were unfounded. 1 deem it my
duty to correct the false i'm
preston thus created and respectfully
ask that this letter be given as wide
a publication as the dispatch which
prompted it. am thoroughly CONVEX
SAINT with the condition of Atchison,
and personally know that the state
ments embodied in the st. Joseph dis
patch are false and misleading. The
gas and electric lights and water sup
ply Of the city have never been turned
is continuously on duty. Its police
force has been largely reduced,
but has in the absence of the sa-
looms been ample to preserve
the peace and protect the
property of its citizens. A local dis
pute concerning the methods of tax
alton and involving the adoption of a
tax which has been collected in the city
of st. Joseph for many years past is the
only foundation to the malicious and
untruthful dispatch from that place.
Atchlson abolished the last of its
saloons in the fall 1886. The whiskey
interests prphesied that this action
would seriously injure the business of
the city. 1t has had no such effect.
AtchisOn is more prosperous to-day
than for many years past. Its whole
sale trade aggregated over $40, OO0, 600
in 1885. and during the first six months
of 1887 this trade has increased fully 33
per cent. over that for the correspond
pal streets of the city are
now being paved. More substantial
improvements are being made
and more buildings are being
erected in Atchison this year than dur
ing any previous year in its history.
Ten important lines of railways center
in the city and the Southern Kansas
Railway has just extended its line to
Atchison. The central shops of the
i NEfoanVnrf panfAn Rnnh hoUa rn0QnfIy
been located there. The largest lum-
Der yard in the West has recent
lily been established there, and
many other important commercial
and manufacturing industries have
been located there during this
past six months. Better than all
| too, the hundreds of thousands of dol
lars that were formerly wasted in sa
/ looms are now expended in feeding
clothing and housing the people, and a
| a result thousands OF wives and chill
dren in Atchison who were living il
poverty a few yeBrs ago are now pros
porous, happy and contented.
This st. Joseph dispatch is only
| fair specimen of hundreds of false ant
malicious statements have seen pub
lished in the newspapers of the coun
try during the past three or four year
concerning Kansas and Kansas towns
The whisky interests predicted tina
the abolition of saloons In kansa!
would injuriously affect the prosperit,
of the state. and falsehoodS intended
to confirm this view are constantly in
vented and circulated throughout tn
states, and especially in states wher
movements are being made to banisl
the saloons. i am receiving let
tiers daily from different states making
inquiries concerning the effects AM
results of our temperance laws on tn
financial, commercial and other ma
terial interests of our state, and thes
letters all indicate that the work O
maligning Kansas is going on In ever
section of the country. Permit m
therefore to inform you of these facts
The prohibition amendment TO on
= constitution was adopted in th
autumn of 1880 and the first laws t
enforce 1t went into effect in May 1881
? The war to Danish the saloons was fC
{ some years only partially successful
4 The amendment had been adopted by
D very meagre majority, and publ
! | sentiment in our larger cite
| was overwhelmingly against it. a
Q late as January, 1885, saloons were ope
!. | in fully thirty of the larger cities
!, Kansas, including Topeka, the capiti
E of the state, but steadily and surely Il
! public sentiment against them spres
3 ana 1nJ6nBllcQ. Inc small malOrli
5 that had voted for the amendment w,
d reinfOi cad first by these law respectiI
+ citizens who are always willing to su
i ordinate their personal opinions to Il
e majesty of the law, and secoI
n by an equally large numb
t who, observing the practical result
o following the abolition of saloons
/ different cities and towns, became CO
y WINGED that Kansas would be a mo
prosperous, happy, and in all respects
D. better community of people if it b
N not an open saloon within its horde
s. So the sentiment of Kansas against t
r liquor traffic has grown and strengthen
le until to-day very much doubt WhetI
le of its 800, 900 male voters more tn
IS 20. 600 would, il they could, invite ba
20 and reinstate the saloon.
Id One argument of the whisky int
ID est, that saloons promote the DR.
lg perity and growth of communities,
k been answered IN Kansas by the c.
Is J vincing logic Of facts. In 1880